50 Twitter Users to Follow for Your Job Search

Although Alison Doyle has done a nice job of starting to build a list of Career Experts and Job Sites on Twitter, I haven’t seen any “must follow” lists for job seekers. That’s why I decided to make one. The first half of the list consists of 25 people that I think that every job seeker on Twitter should be following, while the second half offers more general recommendations on what types of people you should be following to help your job search. The list is in no particular order, and it’s nowhere near exhaustive. If you have suggestions, I’d love to see them in the comments.

1. Willy Franzen (@willyf) – Yes, that’s me. I made the list, so I get to be on it. I do happen to run sites that help college students find entry level jobs and internships.
2. Jason Seiden (@Seiden) – Ok, so he’s my business partner in Found Your Career, but he’s also an expert on self-destruction. Do you want to self-destruct in your job search? Didn’t think so. Follow Jason.
3. Lindsey Pollak (@lindseypollak) – Lindsey is the author of Getting from College to Career and always has great insight into the job search process.
4. Laurie Ruettimann (@lruettimann) She has one of the hardest names to spell on Twitter, but if you want to get inside the head of an HR Professional, follow Laurie. Be warned, though, she’s Punk Rock.
5. Charlie O’Donnell (@ceonyc) – Charlie is the CEO of Path101, a career discovery startup, and a big player in the NY tech startup scene.
6. Alison Doyle (@alisondoyle) – Alison is a true thought leader when it comes to online job search. That’s why she wrote Internet Your Way To a New Job.
7. Heather Huhman (@heatherhuhman) – Heather is working tirelessly to provide great content for entry level job seekers over at Examiner.com.
8. Dan Schawbel (@danschawbel) – Dan is Mr. Personal Branding. He’s also the author of the soon to be released Me 2.0.
9. Tim Ferriss (@tferriss) – Tim wrote The 4-Hour Workweek. It has nothing to do with job search, but everything to do with productivity.
10. Ben Yoskovitz (@byosko) – The CEO of Standout Jobs, Ben is working hard to improve the user experience of corporate recruitment sites and make it easier for companies to communicate their recruiting message.
11. Scheherazade Mason (@sherryfm) – I’m not exactly sure how I should pronounce her name, so I just call her Sherry. She’s the Assistant Director of Career Planning at Bowdoin.
12. Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) – Ben may still be in college, but you need to follow him. He started his own company at age 14 and then wrote My Start-Up Life. Whether you want to be an entrepreneur or not, Ben is someone that you should get to know more about.
13. Susan Joyce (@jobhuntorg) – Susan has built up one of the most trusted job search resources on the Internet at Job-Hunt.org.
14. Ramit Sethi (@ramit) – Ramit is another young entrepreneur, but he’s also a personal finance guru. Check out his new book I Will Teach You To Be Rich and his blog at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com.
15. Jacob Share (@jacobshare) – Jacob is based out of Israel, but he offers tons of job search tips at JobMob (in English) that are just as relevant here as they are there.
16. Jason Buss (@jjbuss) – Jason is the VP, Talent Acquisition & Diversity at Ameriprise Financial. Following him will give you a good idea of how major corporations recruit talent.
17. Peter Shankman (@skydiver) – Peter doesn’t deal directly with job search, but his HARO service is an exceptional resource for people who are trying to build their own brands.
18. Joel Cheesman (@cheezhead) – Cheezhead keeps a close watch on the online recruiting world so you don’t have to.
19. Miriam Salpeter (@Keppie_Careers) – Miriam is a resume writer and career coach who is constantly pumping out valuable content for job seekers.
20. Michael Arrington (@techcrunch) – If you want to work at a startup, you need to know about TechCrunch. Even if you don’t, keeping up on tech can only help your job search.
21. Jennifer McClure (@CincyRecruiter) – If you ever end up working with a recruiter, it will be good to have gotten familiar with someone like Jennifer.
22. Chris Russell (@chrisrussell) – Chris is always creating new projects to help job seekers. You’ve got Jobs in Pods, AllCountyJobs, Secrets of the Job Hunt, and JobRadio.fm.
23. Andy Beal (@andybeal) – Andy is the guy to know if you want to learn about online reputation management, which has become an essential part of job searching these days.
24. Jason Alba (@jasonalba) – Besides being the CEO of JibberJobber, a website that will help you manage your job search, he also wrote I’m on LinkedIn–Now What??? and I’m on Facebook–Now What???.
25. Steven Rothberg (@stevenrothberg) – He runs CollegeRecruiter.com, which ranks #1 in Google for “entry level jobs.” No further explanation needed.

Following all of those people will help a lot, but the true power of Twitter comes through connecting with people who share your interests and passions. Instead of focusing on specific people, this second half of the list will focus on the types of people that you should look to connect with on Twitter. Finding them may not be easy at first, but once you find one, you’ll be able to look at whom they’re following to fill out the rest of your list.

26-30. Thought leaders in your industry – You need to be up on the latest news. Find the big names in the industry that you want to be in and hang on their every word.
31-35. Local leaders in your industry – Whether you’re in
36-40. People who share a common passion – Although you may not be pursing a career that is aligned with your interests, you never know when meeting someone with common interests might help your job search.
41-45. Amusing people – You need to stay entertained. A job search can be depressing, so make sure that you follow some people who can make you laugh.
46-50. Real life friends – It’s easy to get caught up in social media and social networking, but make sure that you’re using tools like Twitter to connect with people that you actually know. It’ll help you keep things in perspective.

There are plenty of brands, job boards, bots, and other Twitter users that you can follow to help your job search, but we stuck to people for this list. We’d love to hear your recommendations, so comment away. (And don’t be afraid to throw your own name into the ring.)

Thanks for including me on the list Willy! (@CincyRecruiter) I’ve been a job seeker myself and try to communicate information on Twitter that will be helpful to job seekers, those working with recruiters and also other recruiters. I’m also interested in social media and personal branding in general, so my followers get some of that too. And I occasionally tweet about shoes… because that’s important too! :)

Jason Alba thinks that he made it just before me, which seems to imply that he’s just a bit better than me. Well, Jason, I got some news for you. Willy saved the best for last. Just kidding. A list like this is a great service to job seekers, recruiters, and other Twitter users. Way to go Willy!

Great list! How about adding @DailyCareerTips? I’m doing an online “as you go” job search guide and am on week 5. This week we are talking about resumes. You can see my 7 points here: http://www.susanstrayer.com/kaliedoblog and then each day this week I have been tweeting on a different point. Today is point 3: the title and profile on your resume.

Willy – As I just tweeted, so sorry for not seeing this post yesterday. Fantastic list, and honored to have made it. There were 3 people I wasn’t following before and now am. Thank you for all you do, and I will continue to work tirelessly to help people find internships and entry-level jobs right alongside you!

Thank you so much for this list, it will help me be more choosy with whom I follow. I was laid of 1/29, I was working as a Document Analyst, which means basically I wrote corporate procedures, staff processes, training materials, customer-facing documents, and other technical writing for a Network Services company.

Yeah. I know. Try to find *that* job description in another company who’s hiring support staff! In this market, people aren’t hiring support staff. Is this where I get to say “it sucks to be a writer”?

Willy,
Thanks for the great article. I recently took off running on Twitter and have been inspired by the extensive information about there, especially in regards to utilizing the site as a valuable job search resource. I’m currently on the hunt for that winning entry-level job and will definitely be passing the link along to others in my shoes!

Thanks for compiling such a great list! I’m honored to be included. There are so many people on Twitter working to help job seekers. Once I start naming names, I can’t stop! I promise that anyone who follows me will learn about other career advisors and writers, as I do my best to retweet any great information that comes my way!

Looks like we were a little late to make your list. @jobshouts is a free to post job board that integrates with twitter. Alison doyle has written about us on her blog at jobsearch.about.com. Follow us on twitter @jobshouts.

Great Post and very nice job on pulling your vision together. Twitter ahs really become an “everything” tool in leveraging social media and social networking. Listening is key and connecting with those that both create and push content can be crucial to your success online.

On further reflection, I fear I shouldn’t be included on this list after all. Although I’m in the biz of helping people find entry level jobs, I don’t do so for the world at large, and my tweets are not of broad interest or full of general advice aimed for everyone. If you follow me thinking I’m going to be delivering lots of gems or job leads, you’ll be disappointed.

My approach to advising student job-hunters is very individualized, and I work one-on-one with students across three fields of interest. If you are job hunting and don’t have a component of your job hunt that involves specific work focused on YOU, all the Twitter resources, “top 5 ways to maximize your resume” blog posts and other articles will be of limited value.

I’m learning lots from Twitter, and hope to contribute to the career planning field beyond my college. I’m delighted by the vote of confidence by being included on this list. But my Tweets will mostly be interesting to people who want a tiny glimpse into life in a liberal arts college in Maine, which I imagine is a small few.

[…] OK, so Twitter takes up a lot of time! How is anyone on it getting work done? I have to follow a bunch of people while tweeting job-related stuff myself while keeping up with Facebook and LinkedIn while writing […]

Very nice, i added every one, i dunno if it can be interesting for you http://twitter.com/qualjobs
it’s a swiss twitter for elite job seeker, you get live jobs directly by tweet. they have some jobs in USA too but they focus on switerland

thanks for sharing this valuable information. i will make sure to get it out to my youtube subscribers and follow these people as i have recently lost my job too, yet inspiring others to find a great job instead. :) much love
Lilou

please add a new twitter peep I just found: @jobangels http://twitter.com/jobangels helping one person find one job at a time – also twitter #tag = #jobangels (they are not a client, I just found them the other day and like the “pay it forward nature of their gig.”

EmploymentGuide.com is also on Twitter! @EmploymentGuide is our national tweet account, and we’re adding local accounts every day! We regularly tweet about job fairs going on nationally, job search tips, and special opportunities for job seekers. This is a great list, even if we’re not in the top 25 (yet!).

CEO’s, HR professionals, etc, are all great but we all know that it is about connections. If you are following somebody, it better be an industry insider or an underground technologist that is a game changer. Follow somebody that can change your life. lots of suggestions not on your lists in helping you change gears but i like http://twitter.com/toddgilmore

[…] Twitter, too. While Twitter is not as obvious a career resource as LinkedIn, it is still a great career tool. Unlike other social networks, it allows you to connect with total strangers, with a diverse range […]

[…] hot tips for a cool job market from the University of Michigan parent newsletter, and in it was a link to a list of 50 Twitter users to follow if you’re searching for a job. I took one look at the […]

Great list for job seekers and anyone wanting to learn more about social media, marketing / branding 2.0. I’ve found @danschawbel and @alisondoyle to be industry leaders and highly recommend their articles, as well. Some other great sources for keeping a pulse on industry trends, social media tips, branding, and marketing are @PRsarahevans @megguiseppi @brianwilliams @andyheadworth @mightycasey @madmain @nhatpham

Another Twitter user to consider : @iRelaunch focuses on strategies for returning to work after a career break for childcare, eldercare, or other reasons. It is run by Carol Fishman Cohen, who co-authored Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work and co-founded career reentry programming company iRelaunch.com.

I put them all in one place so people can easily follow with NinjaFollow.
willyf,Seiden,lindseypollak,lruettimann,ceonyc,alisondoyle,heatherhuhman,danschawbel,tferriss,
byosko,sherryfm,bencasnocha,jobhuntorg,ramit,jacobshare,jjbus,skydiver,cheezhead,Keppie_Careers,
techcrunch,CincyRecruiter,chrisrussell,andybeal,jasonalba,stevenrothberg

[…] to your connections about opportunities in your field of interest. The blog One day One Job has a list of people job-seekers should be following on Twitter. See this resource for tips on leveraging your […]

This is Awesome! You’re doing it exactly the way I explain on my website; you have the passion and insight to know how to make it in the worst economy of our time. We must take advantage of this opportunity–nice work!

I’ve been unemployed since the beginning of 2009 and it ain’t pretty at all. Wife, kids, dog, mortgage–all of it. We can make our situation a horrible experience or a learning experience; chances are it’s a lot of both.

[…] I included some of my favorites in a recent post: Job Search By Pay Phone and I recommend this job search article posted by Willy Franzen at One Day One Job blog. I also recommend the post How Not To Let Twitter […]

Thanks for the list Willy! If I may add, you can also follow my tweets @JustinBidwell or go to my website where there’s 1K’s of urgent to fill technical jobs at http://bidwellandassociates.com/ All jobs are backed by recruiters, so if candidates are qualified, they’ll get a call back ASAP.